Revealed: How killers, rapists and drug dealers are tattooing themselves with crosses, getting baptised and handing out church leaflets to avoid deportation... but cannot answer simple questions about Christianity
Killers, rapists and drug dealers are among migrants who have avoided deportation by persuading judges they have converted to Christianity.
Some asylum seekers have been tattooing themselves with crosses, getting baptised and handing out church leaflets in a bid to stay in the UK - but cannot answer simple questions about the religion.
In one case, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi man who spent 12 years in jail for murdering his wife successfully appealed against the Home Office's bid to deport him by saying he was a Christian convert who would be at risk in a predominantly Muslim country.
The judge granted his appeal on the grounds of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which bars the removal of individuals who would face serious harm from torture or from inhuman or degrading treatment.
Renewed focus has been played on the issue after Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi was granted asylum after claiming to have converted to Christianity, despite having two convictions for sex assault and exposure.
![James Cleverly has commissioned a review into the issue after a chemical attack in Clapham suspected to have been carried out by Afghan sex offender Abdul Ezedi (pictured) who was allowed to stay in the UK after claiming he had converted to Christianity](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/20/81082071-13069405-James_Cleverly_commissioned_a_review_into_the_issue_after_a_chem-m-2_1707595861129.jpg)
James Cleverly has commissioned a review into the issue after a chemical attack in Clapham suspected to have been carried out by Afghan sex offender Abdul Ezedi (pictured) who was allowed to stay in the UK after claiming he had converted to Christianity
Police have been searching the Thames in central London, with officers saying they believe the 35-year-old is likely to have drowned after falling into the river from Chelsea Bridge.
He was last seen leaning over railings there shortly before midnight on January 31.
One case uncovered from an analysis of asylum judgments involved an Iranian who had been jailed for 18 months in the UK for assault.
A judge ruled he could not be deported, despite evidence he was not a genuine covert, because he had covered his arms with Christian tattoos that would lead Iranian officials to believe he had converted.
Since January 23 there have been 28 cases in the Upper Tribunal of the immigration and asylum chamber in which converting to Christianity was given as a reason for being granted asylum, The Times reported.
Seven were approved and 13 dismissed and new hearings were ordered in eight cases.
One Iranian man who had been handed four years in prison for drug and driving was able to have his deportation order overturned despite mistakenly referring to Good Friday as 'Black Friday'.
Another Iranian who served 10 years in jail for drug dealing was given leave to remain in the UK because the judge said his perceived conversion would put him at risk even if it was, in reality, 'insincere'.
One case involved a Pakistani student who had overstayed his visa and claimed asylum.
He claimed his evangelical preaching would put him at risk, despite the only evidence of his commitment to the religion being “handing out leaflets outside Tooting Tube station”.
Meanwhile, an Iranian paedophile who has fought a 14-year asylum battle claims he cannot be deported because he has converted to Christianity and is tattooed with a cross.
The 45-year-old sex offender –described as a 'danger to the community' but who The Mail on Sunday is banned from naming by a court order – was baptised just 11 days before he lodged his latest legal appeal to stay in Britain.
Last year, an immigration judge threw out his claim and ruled his failure to acknowledge the 'wretchedness' of his sickening crimes showed he was not a Christian.
But, in an astonishing development, the judge has been rebuked by a more senior judge for a 'wholly inappropriate analysis' of the paedophile's 'relationship with God'.
![Pastor Phylip Rees (pictured) told the Mail on Sunday that he arranged mass baptisms of migrants on a beach in South Wales during winter months as a 'litmus test' of their faith](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/22/81106235-13069405-Pastor_Phylip_Rees_pictured_told_the_Mail_on_Sunday_that_he_arra-a-1_1707602690051.jpg)
Pastor Phylip Rees (pictured) told the Mail on Sunday that he arranged mass baptisms of migrants on a beach in South Wales during winter months as a 'litmus test' of their faith
![Pastor Rees said he wanted to help immigrants in need](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/22/81109889-13069405-image-m-7_1707603118304.jpg)
Pastor Rees said he wanted to help immigrants in need
The case, which has already come before six judges during a seemingly endless cycle of appeals, will have to be heard all over again at another immigration tribunal.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel last night described the MM case as 'appalling', adding: 'The Church must stop giving succour to dangerous criminals and those who seek to exploit our system.
'These violent criminals must go from prison to plane. That's what the public expects.'
The Church of England has insisted that it is not its job to vet asylum seekers.
One minister revealed he has baptised up to 500 asylum seekers in the sea - but more than half disappeared after their Christian conversion.
Pastor Phylip Rees told the Mail on Sunday that he arranged mass baptisms of migrants on a beach in South Wales during winter months as a 'litmus test' of their faith.
An extraordinary video posted on YouTube shows up to 40 asylum seekers being baptised on a windy beach in Barry Island.
Wearing a woolly hat and coat, Pastor Rees is shown hugging the migrants as they waded out of the waves after their 'full immersion' baptisms.
The 74-year-old, a minister at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff for 16 years, estimated that up to 60 per cent of the people he baptised were never seen again, with many leaving the areas to find work, often in London.
![An extraordinary video posted on YouTube shows up to 40 asylum seekers being baptised on a windy beach in Barry Island](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/19/81106225-13069405-image-a-4_1707593889739.jpg)
An extraordinary video posted on YouTube shows up to 40 asylum seekers being baptised on a windy beach in Barry Island
![Wearing a woolly hat and coat, Pastor Rees is shown hugging the migrants as they waded out of the waves after their 'full immersion' baptisms](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/12/14/81106227-13074097-Wearing_a_woolly_hat_and_coat_Pastor_Rees_is_shown_hugging_the_m-m-2_1707748452519.jpg)
Wearing a woolly hat and coat, Pastor Rees is shown hugging the migrants as they waded out of the waves after their 'full immersion' baptisms
![The 74-year-old, a minister at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff for 16 years, estimated that up to 60 per cent of the people he baptised were never seen again](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/19/81106227-13069405-image-m-6_1707593898314.jpg)
The 74-year-old, a minister at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff for 16 years, estimated that up to 60 per cent of the people he baptised were never seen again
Pastor Rees said he wanted to help immigrants in need, adding: 'We prayed that God would send us asylum seekers and lo and behold the Home Office opened up an office right next to the church.'
His comments reveal the astonishing scale of Christian conversions among asylum seekers in the UK and will fuel fears that many falsely claim to have embraced the religion as part of bogus claims to stay here.
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of migrants who are granted asylum on the basis of religion, despite evidence that some are converting to Christianity to game the system.
Home Secretary James Cleverly commissioned a review into the issue following the chemical attack in Clapham suspected to have been carried out by an Afghan sex offender who was allowed to stay in the UK after claiming he had converted to Christianity.
Whistleblowing priest The Rev Matthew Firth last week accused the Church of England of being part of a 'conveyor belt' of questionable conversions.
![Pastor Rees said he wanted to help immigrants in need, adding: 'We prayed that God would send us asylum seekers and lo and behold the Home Office opened up an office right next to the church'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/19/81106233-13069405-image-a-3_1707593884905.jpg)
Pastor Rees said he wanted to help immigrants in need, adding: 'We prayed that God would send us asylum seekers and lo and behold the Home Office opened up an office right next to the church'
![His comments reveal the astonishing scale of Christian conversions among asylum seekers in the UK and will fuel fears that many falsely claim to have embraced the religion as part of bogus claims to stay here](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/19/81106229-13069405-His_comments_reveal_the_astonishing_scale_of_Christian_conversio-m-11_1707594176148.jpg)
His comments reveal the astonishing scale of Christian conversions among asylum seekers in the UK and will fuel fears that many falsely claim to have embraced the religion as part of bogus claims to stay here
![The Home Office does not collect data on the number of migrants who are granted asylum on the basis of religion, despite evidence that some are converting to Christianity to game the system](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/10/19/81106231-13069405-image-a-9_1707593929580.jpg)
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of migrants who are granted asylum on the basis of religion, despite evidence that some are converting to Christianity to game the system
CoE guidelines say clergy must be confident that those seeking baptism 'fully understand what it signifies', with ministers advised to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves'.
Many churches that are not part of the CoE do not have any guidelines for handling baptism requests from asylum seekers.
As well as those asylum seekers he has baptised in the sea, Pastor Rees baptised hundreds more asylum seekers at the Cardiff church. Many were Iranian or Afghan and all but one was a former muslim.
The clergyman, who left the Cardiff church in 2019, says he wrote thousands of letters to the immigration services on behalf of asylum seekers who were members of his congregation and attended hundreds of immigration tribunal hearings.
Those wanting to be baptised would have to attend bible classes one night a week for two months and attend church on Sundays, he said.
He claims to have refused to help about 40 asylum seekers after deciding their wish to convert from Islam to Christianity was not genuine. He reported one man to the Home Office after discovering that he was faking his faith.
'If I suspected that someone wasn't genuine, I wouldn't baptise them. I would refuse.
He added: 'If you are seeking to use Christianity as a means of gaining British citizenship then you are making a great big mistake. The Government frowns upon it, they do the necessary checks and I've had a number of people turned down over the years.'
Holding mass baptisms in the sea during the winter was a way of testing his worshippers' faith, he claimed.
'We would go in January and February and take up to 60 people at a time, nearly all were asylum seekers.
'No one ever said no but you wouldn't get lilywhite Welsh people going in at that time of year, the water wasn't warm enough. It was a litmus test of their commitment, if you can't deal with a little bit of cold water then you're not ready for baptism. It was a test of the reality of their faith.'
Pastor Rees, a father-of-four who became a full time baptist minister aged 43, is now at Duckpool Baptist Church in Newport, where he describes the congregation as 'vastly different'.
'They are mostly elderly, older than me. We do carry out baptisms there but we haven't got any booked at the moment.'
A source close to the Home Secretary said: 'It is clear that the Home Office does not regard religious conversion as an automatic right to asylum.
'Home Office case workers recognise, apart from someone's purely personal opinion, there is no mechanism or technique to authenticate whether a conversion is solid or meaningful, or even real. Nor should any conversion be a vehicle for gaming a system.'